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Phase evolution studies of mechanochemical-prepared Cu2ZnSnS4 powder via comprehensive annealing and milling investigation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 January 2022

Soheil Alee Open the ORCID record for Soheil Alee [Opens in a new window] ,
Morteza Asemi ,
Mina Soltanmohammadi  and
Majid Ghanaatshoar
Soheil Alee
Affiliation:
Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Solar Cells Research Group, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Morteza Asemi
Affiliation:
Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Solar Cells Research Group, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Mina Soltanmohammadi
Affiliation:
Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Solar Cells Research Group, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Majid Ghanaatshoar*
Affiliation:
Laser and Plasma Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran Solar Cells Research Group, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
*
a)Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Electronic mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Environmental benign and stable kesterite Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) photovoltaics provides an intriguing alternative to conventional solar cells. However, further development is required for boosting the Voc-deficit in CZTS photovoltaic to enhance the cell function. Intending to obtain high-quality CZTS powder as the basis, here we report a comprehensive study of the vacuum annealing process (including annealing temperature, duration, and heating rates) for synthesized powder with the ball-milling method, which leads to a high-quality kesterite structure. According to analysis outcomes, there are not any significant differences in structures of differently milled specimens while the optical and morphological findings exhibit distinctive results. In short, the 10 h milled powder annealed at 500 °C for 5 h with a 9 °C min−1 heating rate possesses a high-quality structure alongside the desired 1.53 eV bandgap and optimum morphological characteristics.

Keywords

kesteriteCu2ZnSnS4ball-millingvacuum annealing
Type
Technical Article
Information
Powder Diffraction , Volume 37 , Issue 1 , March 2022 , pp. 22 - 33
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Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Centre for Diffraction Data

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